Some say King's 'Dream' not reality

50 years later: Residents of Bridgeport's East End say they have a renamed street, but little else

Published 12:28 am, Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Neal McGee gives Carmelo Ayala, 8, a haircut at Kingdom Cutters on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Neal McGee gives Carmelo Ayala, 8, a haircut at Kingdom Cutters on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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David stands outside a business on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

David stands outside a business on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Douglas Rice, left, and Roosevelt Barnett talk at the Old Timers Place on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Douglas Rice, left, and Roosevelt Barnett talk at the Old Timers Place on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Victor Squire sells hotdogs on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Victor Squire sells hotdogs on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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A boy and a young man walk down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

A boy and a young man walk down Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boulevard, which is also Stratford Avenue in the East End, in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C. Aug. 28, 1963. The Washington Monument is in background.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C. Aug. 28, 1963. The Washington Monument is in background.

Photo: AP Photo, File

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In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center left with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors carrying placards, from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. less

In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center left with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors carrying placards, from the Washington Monument ... more

Photo: Uncredited, AP Photo, File

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Arial view of the masses who crowd the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, USA, in their freedom march during the historic speach of Dr. Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream" August 28, 1963.

Arial view of the masses who crowd the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, USA, in their freedom march during the historic speach of Dr. Martin Luther King "I Have A Dream" August 28, 1963.

Photo: STR, Associated Press File

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In this Aug. 28, 1963 file photo, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in Washington. Actor-singer Sammy Davis Jr. is at bottom right. It has been cited as one of America's essential ideals, its language suggestive of a constitutional amendment on equality: People should "not be judged but he color of their skin but by the content of their character." less

In this Aug. 28, 1963 file photo, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, speaks to thousands during his "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the Lincoln ... more

Photo: Uncredited, AP Photo, File

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In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo shows civil rights demonstrators gather at the Washington Monument grounds before noon, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial, seen in the far background at right, where the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom will end with a speech by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., now known as the "I Have A Dream" speech. less

In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo shows civil rights demonstrators gather at the Washington Monument grounds before noon, before marching to the Lincoln Memorial, seen in the far background at right, where the ... more

Photo: Uncredited, AP Photo, File

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In this Aug. 28, 1963, black-and-white file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Former South African president Nelson Mandela never met with King but the two fought for the same issues at the same time on two different continents. Mandela said in a 1964 speech that he was prepared to die to see his dream of a society where blacks and whites were equal become reality. King was killed by an assassin's bullet while working for that same dream. less

In this Aug. 28, 1963, black-and-white file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. Former South African president Nelson ... more

Photo: AP Photo/File

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In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center left with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors carrying placards, from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. Next Wednesday, the nation's first black president, Barack Obama, will stand near the spot where Martin Luther King Jr. stood 50 years ago, a living symbol of the racial progress King dreamed about, and enunciate where he believes this nation should be headed. less

In this Aug. 28, 1963, file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., center left with arms raised, marches along Constitution Avenue with other civil rights protestors carrying placards, from the Washington Monument ... more

Photo: AP Photo, File

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Some say King's 'Dream' not reality

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BRIDGEPORT -- Roosevelt Barnett laid down a deck of cards on the poker table in the Old Timers Place clubhouse on Monday afternoon. He'd just been asked -- two days before the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech -- if racism still existed.

"A black man and a white man go for a job," Barnett scoffed. "Who do you think is going to get it?"

It was a rhetorical question, but that didn't stop one of the group of men crammed into the back room of the storefront membership club on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from answering.

"A white man," one said quickly, though he declined to give his name.

Every one of the Old Timers, most born in the 1940s or earlier, knew that answer by heart. For them, the anniversary of the speech and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom is not a reminder of how far the nation has come, but of how far it still has to go.

Fifty years after the historic speech, the days of overt segregation are over, races coexist freely and the nation is led by its first black president. Those who frequent Martin Luther King Boulevard in Bridgeport, however, are still waiting for the dream to come true.

More Information

50 years later ...what's changed?Population1963: 20,255,067 African-Americans made up 10.7 percent of the total U.S. population.2012: There are now 44,456,009 blacks in the nation, making up 14.2 percent of the population.

Elections1964: At 58.5 percent, the number of blacks that voted in the last presidential election was less than the 69.3 percent of the total U.S. population that voted in that election. 2012: The numbers flipped and 62 percent of blacks voted in the last presidential election, more than the 56.5 percent of the U.S. population that voted.1970: There were 1,469 black elected officials in the first year that data was compiled.2011: There were 10,500 black elected officials.

Housing1970: The homeownership rate for blacks was 41.6 percent, while the percentage of U.S. renter-occupied units with black households stood at 15.3 percent.2011: Both the homeownership rate and the percentage of renter-occupied units with black households rose to 43.4 percent and 19.3 percent, respectively.

Income1963: The median family income for blacks was $22,266 (in 2011 dollars), which was 55 percent of median income for all U.S. families.2011: That rose to $40,495 for those who identified their race as black, or 66 percent of the national median family income.1963: Black men working full time, year-round had a median income of $25,826 (in 2011 dollars), while black women had a median income of $14,651.2011: Black men's median income was $40,273. It was slightly lower for black women at $35,146 a year.

Poverty1966: Poverty rate for blacks was 41.8 percent, much higher than the 14.7 national rate.2011: The national poverty rate remained nearly unchanged at 15 percent, but the poverty rate for blacks dropped to 27.6 percent.

Education1964: 25.7 percent of blacks age 25 and over had completed at least four years of high school. 2012: 80 percent of blacks age 25 and over completed at least four years of high school.1964: There were 234,000 black undergraduate college students and 365,000 blacks who had at least a bachelor's degree.2012: Ten times as many blacks, or 2.6 million, were undergraduate college students. And there were 5.1 million blacks with at least a bachelor's degree.

******Excerpt from the "I Have A Dream" speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr. on Aug. 28, 1963

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.I have a dream today!

They're still waiting for people to "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character," as King famously put it in a speech he ad-libbed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a crowd of more than 200,000 on Aug. 28, 1963.

Stratford Avenue, the East End's main thoroughfare, was renamed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in a ceremony a few years back. But no one ever calls it that. Few even know. Those that do know its ceremonial name are more embarrassed than proud of the fact.

What would King think of the East End street named after him here?

"The poor man would have a cardiac arrest," said Barnett, who still spends a majority of his time on Stratford Avenue, though he moved to Stratford long ago. That made his friends laugh.

"He most definitely would cry," a club member said, the intensity and sadness of his words lingering in the air.

In this waterfront and desolate neighborhood, the street named after King is one of the poorest and most crime-ridden in the city.

Because it lacks basic amenities, like a bank, supermarket or even a gas station, the 06607 ZIP code has the smallest population of any other in the city. The 2010 U.S. Census found 7,843 people -- of the 144,000 in this city -- lived in this ZIP code, which comprises the entire East End neighborhood.

African-Americans made up 58.6 percent of that population, the highest percentage of blacks in any Bridgeport neighborhood. And although they are free to move anywhere in the city, the Old Timers said many of those living in the East End can't afford to leave.

Mule, an 80-year-old Old Timer who grew up in South Carolina and would only give his nickname, said the only positive thing that has happened in the last 50 years is the opportunity for African-Americans to get an education. But with a high school graduation rate of roughly 60 percent in Bridgeport over the last few years, children of all races aren't even getting a decent one.

And when they do receive a proper education, many African-Americans, like many Hispanics, don't have the means to pursue higher education, noted Mule, -- a throwback to the days of slavery.

It's that access without the means to pursue it that is holding the African-American population back, Esdaile said, noting his belief that racism is, in part, responsible for this. He pointed to the findings of a recent NAACP study of hospitals in the state conducted with the help of a Yale University research team using 2009 data obtained through questionnaires hospitals were asked to fill out in 2010.

The study found that "among the lowest-skilled roles, which comprise more than 53 (percent) of the workforce, African-Americans are represented at above average rates." Yet in senior and mid-level positions, like directors and nurses, respectively, the percentages of African-Americans were often in the single digits.

The study also found that of the roughly $5 billion in procurement funds expended by hospitals in Connecticut in 2009 only $100,000 went to African-American businesses. The NAACP is now considering filing a class-action lawsuit.

In 1963, for example, the national median family income for blacks was $22,266 (in 2011 dollars), which was 55 percent of median income for all U.S. families, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Two years ago, those who identified themselves in the 2010 Census as black-alone, meaning they did not check off a second race, had a median family income of $40,495, or 66 percent of the national median family income.

The national poverty rate for blacks has also dropped dramatically from 41.8 percent in 1966 to 27.6 percent in 2011 -- even as the overall population of blacks has more than doubled from more than 20.2 million in 1963 to over 44.4 million last year.

But that percentage is still much higher than the overall national poverty, which stands at a stubborn 15 percent. It was 14.7 percent in 1963.

Stratford Avenue wasn't the first Bridgeport street to be renamed after the civil rights leader.

"The real Martin Luther King boulevard disappeared when Father Panik disappeared," said David, a 62-year-old who declined to give his last name. Father Panik Village was the worst housing complex in the city, torn down decades ago as the only way to end the murders and drug wars there.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard ran right through it.

In what David calls "tokenism," city officials renamed Stratford Avenue after King.

"It's always in the urban communities where there's a whole lot of ... going on. It's always in the ghetto," he said. "It's never in an affluent community."

Still, the younger generation may see things differently than the Old Timers.

"I think it's changed," said Jack Jackson, a 39-year-old hanging out at the Kingdom Cutters barbershop, located next to the Old Timers Place. "There's not as much racism. I get along with everybody."

Barbershop owner Neal McGee noted that 50 years is not an extraordinary amount of time and change doesn't happen overnight.